


Breakfast with Pearl

by alwerakoo



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, But also, Corrupted Steven Universe, Corruption, Depressing, Family, Family Angst, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I made myself sad, Lots of it, Mother-Son Relationship, No Romance, Pain, Pearl just loves him very much okay, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Sad, Steven Universe Future, and just a little, i think, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22135969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwerakoo/pseuds/alwerakoo
Summary: Pearl is making pancakes.And it's not domestic at all.
Relationships: Pearl & Steven Universe
Comments: 8
Kudos: 170





	Breakfast with Pearl

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> This was translated from my native language so if anything sound weird or there are any errors, please let me know!

Pearl was making pancakes.

And, at least in her opinion, it was all going pretty well. Of course, her opinion didn't include breaks she needed to take every five minutes just to breath in some fresh air. And the look on her face every time she had to actually touch the bloody thing. But her opinion never included any kind of setbacks.

Pearl liked to think of them as " _short breaks from victory_ ".

And even if she would consider them a sign that maybe things weren't going as smoothly as she had hoped, whenever she started to feel bad about it, all she had to do was to look slightly to the right. On Amethyst, slouching over the sink, with eyes full of remorse, slowly scraping a scorched pot.

With was a funny story, actually.

Although at first she swore that burning her omelette to a crisp was really her secret plan all along, and the pot was just a "small material object, insignificant compared to eternity" (Pearl was convinced that she stole this quote for some TV show, where it made much more sense), when she accidentally set the dishcloth one fire (the yellow one, with pink bunnies), she finally accepted her defeat . At least officially, because when Pearl estimating the level of damage done to these small, pink mammals, she heard Amethyst whispering under her breath: " _I like them better when they're burned..._ ".

So breakfast was on Pearl. And although she hated to even look at the eggs, she was kind of mad at herself for believing that any task that required staying focus for more than two minutes wouldn't surpass Amethyst.

And no matter how bad it sounded, the presence of someone who was slowly losing themself in the whole situation a little faster than she was, gave her a temporary, false sense of self-control.

But then she would realize how awful she was for even thinking that and she was suddenly hating herself again and again, tears formed in her eyes and she just had to leave, now, acting like she really hated food that much, she just couldn't be in the same room as it.

Crying in front of Amethyst wasn't really something she wanted to do for the third time this week.

She flipped over another pancake, turning her face away from the pan. Trying to breathe through her mouth, she listened to the constant sound of flowing water on her right.

"Turn off the tap, you're wasting water" Pearl remind her, mentally already preparing herself for cleaning the pot again, after Amethyst was “done with it”

“Hey, P?”

But Amethyst was no longer scraping the bottom of the pot. She leaned on the counter, practically laying on it, staring at the water going down the drain.

Pearl turned the tap off for her.

“Yes?”

“Garnet told you where she was going, didn't she?”

Her grip tightened. She closed her eyes for a moment. Counted to ten and opened it again. Connie taught her that, saying it helps humans calm down.

Pearl decided, she just wasted ten seconds.

“Ametyst” she began.

Yes, it was definitely a beginning. Maybe not a good one, but it was something. Now she only had to come up with the rest.

Easy peasy

“So?”

She cleared her throat.

“We're a team. And you know that. And all the decisions we make, we make together. And we're always working together”

“Bullshi -”

"But sometimes ..." she interrupted her, still avoiding eye contact "Sometimes, Garnet likes to keep some things ... private. Be alone with herself and her thoughts. We can't expect her to always be here. Don't you think she deserves some time to think too? A break?"

Terrible. She didn't believe a single word that just came out of her mouth. And looking at Amethyst's expression, it was easy to say that she didn't convince her either.

She'd never had to explain someone something she couldn't understand either.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Do you think I wouldn't tell you if I really knew?”

Amethyst snorted.

“Wouldn't be the first time.”

It stung.

And all at once her knees were a little weaker, the world a little more blurred and suddenly she was standing on the terrace again, rubbing her eyes.

She never had to pretend to be strong. And calm, as if she had the whole situation under control. As if it didn't hurt her at all that Garnet decided to leave them in one of the most difficult moments of their lives. Like she thought that since she had lost her self-control, slowly sinking deeper into the spiral of despair and regret, Pearl could definitely take her role.

She was acting like she knew exactly what she was doing in front of Amethyst. But she didn't know. _Not really._

She didn't know what she was doing, she wanted to cry all the time, and Amethyst knew very well that she had no control over anything any more.

And when Pearl finally came back inside, wrapping her jacket tightly herself and sniffed for the last time, she found Amethyst bent over the stove.

“Hey, is it supposed to smell like it's burning?”

When she was holding back her tears (for the fifth time this morning), throwing a burnt pancake into the trash can, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“I'm sorry”

Amethyst could say. Pearl just smiled at her.

And when all (not the burnt ones, although Amethyst did put up a fight) pancakes landed on a plate, decorated with butter and maple syrup, Pearl suddenly felt like she needed to go outside again.

A bunch of pancakes suddenly seemed to weigh thousands of kilograms as she held them with her trembling hands, looking at the stairs.

Amethyst said:

“I can go, if you want to”

Like she did every day. And Pearl, just like every day, shook her head.

“I can handle it”

She counted the stairs.

One.

Two

Three.

Skipped the fifth and seventh one. They made way too much noise.

Eight.

Took a deep breath.

“Hello, Steven.”

The boy under the covers didn't move.

Another breath. Again, she tried counting to ten. She wasted ten seconds.

“I ma... Me and Amethyst. We made you breakfast. Pancakes. You like ... you do like pancakes, right? I used less sugar than in the recipe, because I know you don't like ... too much. Sugar.”

She finished and immediately wanted to undo everything she just said. Or just run from the scene immediately.

Instead, she leaned over to set the plate down on the bedside table.

“Thanks. But I'm not hungry.”

It fell out of her hands and landed with a loud clink. Pearl immediately straightened up, feeling her knees slowly so numb.

The sheets moved, rustled and just like that: Steven was sitting on top of the bed. Still wrapped in blankets, clenching his fingers on his forearm. But he sat up.

He sat up, spoke, and now stared straight at her. Dark pink eyes seemed glowed in the morning rays, but there was nothing in them that could be associated with sun.

She walked slowly towards the bed.

“How are you feeling today?”

Steven shrugged.

“Is it worst?”

Pearl took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed.

“First” she smiled gently "maybe you could tell me what did you dreamed about today?”

Steven laughed and although it sounded more like a sigh, Pearl felt like crying again. But she also wanted to laugh with Steven, because she always did. So she laughed too.

"Last time I told you about my dreams, you fell asleep”

And suddenly he stopped smiling, looking down at his hands.

"Nothing. I didn't dream about anything" he answered after a moment.

“And that's...”

"Good" he assured her.

Pearl leaned forward, placing both hands on his cheeks. He shuddered but didn't move away.

The dark patches that covered most of his skin were always just so strangely smooth to the touch. Smooth, slightly slippery. Like scales. She ran her thumb over them, feeling something hard around her temple. Right under a thin layer of human skin. Ready to break it apart. She closed her eyes for a moment.

"I think it actually looks smaller today" she replied with a smile.

He didn't answer, staring somewhere above her head. And till didn't pull away from her hands. So she didn't either.

She looked at the comic books scattered all over the floor by the bed.

“Reading your old comics?”

“Mostly just looking at the pictures” he admitted.

They both laughed and Pearl wondered how much energy it costed him. And whether or not will the next week be filled with those days when all he can do is to turn away from her touch.

The pancakes on the table still smelled fresh. But for some reason, it didn't bother her any more.

“You have to eat something, Steven.”

"I know." he replied “Maybe later. I'm just tired.”

Pearl nodded. As a sign that he understands. Although she didn't really understand anything any more, and it felt like her whole life was slipping away between her fingers.

But Steven turned his head, leaning into her touch, closed his eyes and sighed.

And Pearl could pretend as much as she wanted.

Pretend that she has it all figured out, that she knows perfectly well what she's doing and that she's not at all overwhelmed by everything.

She may not want to cry in front of Amethyst.

But cried in front of Steven before.

_So it's okay._

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo my take on corrupted!Steven is a little different. I thnik it would go really slow and make him very tired. And he would be in a lot of pain cuz it's like. Burning his skin from the inside. He's just a human person, so his skin would just break.  
> I'm sorry Steven.


End file.
